Origin of the name, Namikaze
by Mokuton Kitsune
Summary: Minato was an orphan. A talented one, but an orphan nonetheless. So where, pray tell, did his last name come from?


Mokuton Kitsune

Prompt: Namikaze

Disclaimer: I do not, in any way, own Naruto. I am making no profit from this story and I benefit from this in no way.

Haku was thrown to the ground as his Demonic Ice Mirrors broke. Malicious red chakra streamed off the boy, granting him amazing power. Haku had known exactly what the boy was instantly. The Kyuubi's chakra felt the same as the Sanbi's, after all. But Biju chakra did not scare him. He had spent too many years dreaming of killing Yagura for a Tailed Beast to scare him. It was what he had seen in the boy's eyes that scared. The warm, welcoming blue had become colder than ice. Colder than any ice could ever be, cold that penetrated his soul and scared him more than anything ever had...

Jiriaya and Minato were walking down a long path on the way to Tea Country. Minato had been working on some weird ball of energy attack he called the Rasengan. Why the brat refused the Swamp of the Underworld was beyond him.

"Jiriaya-sensei, how much longer 'till we get there?"

Minato could be a whiny brat sometimes.

"Another hour of walking at least boy."

"I have a name you know!" He glared at his sensei.

"Yeah, port!" Jiriaya giggled, quite amused at his students ridiculous name.

"Yeah, and your name means thunder! All bark and no bite you old goat!" Minato stuck out his tongue.

"Thunder scares people. Ports... Not so much. And it's young thunder!"

The conversation about ridiculous names continued all the way to Tea Country.

Minato sat in a small bar, quietly sipping at one of the places few non-alcoholic drinks. Jiriaya was meeting with one of his contacts, something about the Yakuza. Across the room, Jiriaya stood and made his way back to Minato.

"Let's go brat, we have to do something." Jiriaya was very serious.

"You mean peep on girls, you ridiculous per?" Minato was a bit daft sometimes.

"Shut up. No, we have to deal with the local Yakuza; they're doing some pretty bad stuff. It's interfering with my network and with trade." Jiriaya looked the boy in the eye, daring him to challenge the authority of the S-rank ninja.

"Fine, let's go!" Minato leap out of seat and was out the door in an instant. Sometimes that boy was to fast.

The Yakuza were situated in a warehouse nearby. There were plenty of vacant rooms for people to stay in, and the place was defendable. It would have meant little to Jiriaya, but they had two A-ranked Nuke-nin with them. Two brothers who were adapt with wind release, if Jiriaya's info was to be believed.

Minato and Jiriaya sat in a tree not far from the warehouse; both had ninja binoculars, and were peering in a window.

"They are dealing in slaves and terrorizing the local trade routes. As their influence grows, they'll become a formidable threat. Better to put them down now." Jiriaya was thinking out loud, trying to formulate a plan for the two missing nin.

Minato ignored his teacher, more interested in the excitement in the ware house. Something was happening just out of his sight. Dang, he couldn't even read their lips to tell what they were saying, as they moved far to fast.

In the warehouse, a man stepped back into Minato's view. What he held up made Minato's blood run cold as ice. It was a girl's dress, covered in blood. He dragged the girl who it belonged to behind him. She was sobbing, and it was obvious what had happened. Minato thought back to the night Kushina had been captured. One of the three cloud-nin had told him something before had killed him.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::Flashback: ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Minato had pinned the larger man down, using a paralyzing pressure point and holding a kunai to the man's neck. The ninja struggled, but Minato was knowledgeable about the human body.

Minato looked him in the eye "What the HELL do you want with Kushina!?"

The man laughed, knowing he was good as dead "Well, if you didn't know the little girl contains the Kyuubi. We'll rip it out and seal it into someone else; they'll make a great weapon. And then the girl has special anti-Biju chakra. We'll breed her 'till she dies, and get some powerful shinobi out of it!" The man was still laughing as Minato brought the kunai down, drowning him in his own blood.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::End Flashback::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Minato tensed, ready to spring forward and kill them all. Jiriaya grabbed his shoulder, stopping him from acting rashly. Minato turned and looked his Sensei in the eye. What Jiriaya saw scared him. The boy's eyes were colder than ice, a chill reaching down into the sage's soul.

In all the man's years as a shinobi, with everything he seen in the wars, he had never seen anything so scary. Not when the Rain ninja had attacked and almost killed his students. Not when Nagato lost control and drew upon the power of the most powerful Dojutsu to have ever existed. Nothing could compare to the ICE in the boy's eyes.

Jiriaya released Minato's shoulder in shock. The boy was gone in a flash, crashing through the window. He only heard brief screams and a quick clash of metal. Then a loud shout.

"RASENGAN!"

Pulling his telescope to his eye hastily, he saw Minato drive an orb of pure, spinning chakra through the chest of one man and then the other. Minato stalked to the other side of the room, picked up a blanket and wrapped the unconscious girl in it, carrying her out of the building bridal style. Minato, with the cold look still in his eyes, walked over to Jiriaya.

"Burn the place sensei. Burn it to the freaking ground."

Needless to say Jiriaya did. From that day on, he was a bit scared of his student's vicious side. It came out sometimes, and Minato became twice as strong. It would scare Jiriaya to his dying day, that piercing, cold gaze.

The only good thing he had taken from it was the boy's surname.

Yo Sensei,

I'm writing to report a few things. The Yakuza in Tea Country compromising the trade routes are gone. Minato took care of them with his new attack. He calls it the Rasengan, and it's at least A-rank. Pretty powerful, and can be formed real quick. Seal less as well.

One other thing. I would like you to change Minato's name to Minato Namikaze. Namikaze means Wind Wave, which is not a joke about his first name. There is a clan in the Land of Water that combines Suiton and Fuuton to form Hyouton, ice release. I hope to the Kamis for your sake you never find out why I he reminds me of ice...

Signing out,

Jiriaya

Haku stared into Naruto's eyes as the boy stood over him.

"If we met in another life we could have been friends, Naruto Uzumaki. Live life to it's fullest, I must go"

With that, Haku stepped through his mirror and saved Zabuza's life. As the light faded from his eyes, one thought floated in his head.

'That boy, Naruto, will be strong. I could see his determination to protect his friend. Good thing I didn't actually kill h...'

A/N: So that's it. Every character in Naruto has a name means something. I'm learning Japanese (A little bit) and I realized that Minato's last name meant wave wind. I thought about why for a while, and after watching the Minato vs. Kyuubi & Tobi fight (For the one-hundredth time), I came up with this. Please Review!


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